Doncaster’s Tara Moore will look back on what might have been after nearly dumping former finalist Vera Zvonareva out of Wimbledon.
The British number five’s first round match with the Russian - who has been as high as second in the world rankings - restarted on a packed Court 2 after being abandoned in fading light the previous evening.
And Moore picked up where she left out, following up her second set tie-break victory to break her rival at the first time of asking.
Moore, 21, is a product of Nick Bollettieri’s famous academy - a school of tennis hard knocks in Florida that counts Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova among its alumni.
She had previously won just one WTA main tour match and has earned just £97,000 in her career, in contrast Zvonareva has collected 13 titles and amassed £13,282,232 in prize money.
Moore is being sponsored by a mobile phone company here at Wimbledon and they are donating £3 to Rally for Bally, the charity set up in memory of Elena Baltacha, who died of liver cancer last month aged 30, every time she pumped her fist.
And she had plenty of cause for celebration as she battled stroke for stroke with her higher ranked opponent and had plenty of chances to win.
But in a rollercoaster deciding set lasting just over an hour, in which nerves played a major part, both players struggled on their service game.
Moore had two chances to serve for the match but spurned them both, going down 4-6, 7-6, 9-7.
Moore will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the ladies’ doubles, teaming with Johanna Konta against Daniela Hantuchova and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
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